We all ran through the hall toward the tea shop. Katara was close behind me, as were Ty Lee and Suki. Mai and Toph were bringing up the rear as we reached the front door to the tea shop. Out in the storm, which had turned much darker and more violent, stood Aang, Zuko and Iroh, poised in their fighting stances, their backs to us.

Standing in the rain, a deranged smile etched across her face, blue flames dancing around her hands, was Azula. She was in brown prisoner garb; her hair had been cut short and was greasy despite being soaked by rain. I saw Jai and Sokka off toward the side, both appearing to be ready to jump in as needed.

Azula laughed darkly, the flames around her hands growing larger. I couldn't help but yell at Aang, "You let that psycho keep her bending?"

Aang didn't acknowledge me, keeping his concentration of the psycho in question. Azula's laughter quieted before she finally spoke. Her voice was amazingly level and calm for someone who had suffered a mental breakdown not a year ago. "Hello Zuzu; it's so nice to see you again."

Zuko cringed at his hated childhood nickname, but didn't break his stance. Azula couched down into her own fighting stance, looking like a jungle cat prepared to pounce. "It's been far too long; I haven't been able to beat you up in almost a year you know. Tell me, how is that scar on your chest?"

Mai appeared beside me, her hand full of her signature knives. "What the hell do you want Azula?" Mai's eyes were almost as frightening as the former princess's. Note to self: don't piss of Mai.

I think it was Mai's movement that sparked all of us girls to life; we all took up fighting stances. Katara and I bended the water falling around us so we both had enough ammunition to create water whips. Toph stomped on the ground, pulling a bolder twice as big as my head from the ground and preparing to send it flying. Ty Lee and Suki pulled out their fans, ever warriors of Kyoshi despite their lack of makeup.

"Oh, nothing that concerns you Mai," Azula spat Mai's name. "This is between me and my dear older brother."

Zuko tensed a little. "How did you get here Azula?"

The princess scanned the crowd that had gathered before her; she pulled her hand back and then punched the air. Blue flames shot out at Jai and Sokka, who jumped out of the way, Jai to the left Sokka to the right. My heart raced with panic when I thought Jai might have been hit, but when I saw he was alright, panic turned to anger toward Azula.

The tension in the air was so thick I thought I might suffocate. Azula scanned our small crowd, sending flames toward Katara and me. We used our water whips to quell the flames before they could reach us. Azula laughed, her cold gold eyes locked on me. "A new water bender; what disgusting company you keep Zuzu."

Zuko took a leaf out of his sister's book; he punched the air, sending orange-yellow flames at her head. Azula countered, her blue flames meeting Zuko's in the middle of our impromptu fighting ring. Blue crashed into orange, exploding and then dissipating, releasing smoke into the air.

Azula began moving, pulling her brother along with her. They began moving in a clock wise motion, though Azula never put her back toward the rest of us. Once she realized how close she was to being exposed, she would change direction and move counter clockwise.

I was struck with a sudden idea as to how we could take her down. I tried to make eye contact with Katara, who was to my left, but she kept her focus strictly on what was in front of us (particularly Aang, who tensed with every step Azula took). Mai, Toph, Suki and Ty Lee were all standing ahead of me, so there was no way I could make eye contact with them. I looked to my right, saw Sokka and Jai; Jai's gaze met mine, and I was suddenly thankful he was here. We had always had a special way of communicating without words.

My idea must have been hiding in my eyes, and Jai must have seen it, because he nodded a little. I nodded a little in response before beginning to move, very slowly, around Katara out to the sides of the dance occurring between Zuko and Azula. Jai did the same, mirroring my movement, small precise steps.

"You know Zuzu," Azula said, continuing her half dance with her older brother. "It's actually a little funny; I've missed harassing you since I've been away."

"I haven't," Zuko said, not taking his eyes off his sister. "How did you get here Azula?"

The princess smirked before sending flames toward the crowd behind the prince. Thankfully, she didn't break eye contact with her brother; otherwise she would have noticed me as I tried sneak around them both. "You'd be surprised what guards and healers will do with the…right motivation."

Chilling images came to mind; either the princess had tortured them to let her out, or had done something even dirtier. I wanted to shake my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts, but I knew that if I did that, Azula would see me and then…well, best not to think about that.

I chanced a quick look at Jai; he was a mirror of me, almost all the way behind Azula. He nodded a little, I nodded back. I would give him the signal once he was completely behind the crazed princess. Zuko continued to speak to his sister. "Did they bring you here? To Ba Sing Se?"

Azula thought for a moment, sending a random shot of flames at Ty Lee and Suki; they blocked the flames with their fans. Sokka moved closer to his girlfriend, obviously wanting to be of some help to her. "Yes," Azula said, her voice sounding like a mix between a hum and the hiss of a snake. "There are some guards at the facility who…don't really care for you. They wish that Father was still the Fire Lord; they understand how great our nation was!"

Azula shot flames at Aang and Iroh; I'm sure Katara tensed, moving closer to the young Avatar. "The Fire Nation was nothing but a bunch of power hungry, cowardly brutes!" Katara's voice was strong as she spoke. "Zuko is helping the Fire Nation truly move toward greatness!"

At the exact wrong moment, Azula tore her gaze away from her brother; her eyes fell on me and her deranged smile turned into her trademarked poisonous smirk.

Things kind of moved in slow motion for the span of maybe a minute. Azula jumped into the air, bringing her foot down and sending flames at me. Zuko was just out of her line of fire, but I was dead in the center. Emphasis on dead.

I bended water from the air and the ground and flung it toward Azula as hard as I could. I had my hands thrown out in front of me, willing the water forward, praying it would collide with Azula and freeze. I squeezed my eyes shut when I saw her flames burst through my wall of water.

I was off my feet, forced down my some unseen force, but I could tell that it wasn't fire. Not warm enough. I barley opened my eyes and saw the cloudy sky above me. I could smell the fire in the air, feel the heat of it on my skin, but (thank God!) there was no pain.

I heard Azula give an angry cry as Jai yelled, "Toph, now!" I felt the earth move, heard Azula's insane screaming. When I looked up I saw that Zuko had jumped to pin me down; my head suddenly ached when I realized it had smashed into the ground.

Then I saw Jai's face over mine; guess that hit on the head was a bad one- everything was choppy, like a skipping CD. No, more like losing cell phone signal while having a phone conversation. I was only getting partial clips of the overall message.

I was sitting up, blinking hard at the sudden dizziness I felt. Azula was trapped by a tight earth coffin, starting in the ground and going all the way up to her neck. Katara appeared in front of me, trying to look into my eyes. "Mae, can you hear me?"

Hell no I couldn't hear her; my ears were ringing so loud I could actually feel the vibrations. It made my ears itch. I stuck my fingers into my ears and shook them back and forth, trying to relieve the itching.

When I looked back to Azula in her stone prison, Iroh, Toph, Mai and Ty Lee were closing in on her as she writhed around in vain. I hoped that she wouldn't remember that she could shoot flames out of her mouth. Suki and Sokka were not too far behind them, both prepared to attack if necessary.

The pain at the back of my head suddenly melted away, though my confusion lingered slightly. Aang was on my left, asking me a question, but I couldn't quite understand what he was saying. "Wait, what?"

Jai was on my left, and I was vaguely aware of his arm around my shoulders. "Aang asked…ok?"

There was that stupid choppy message thing again. Katara moved around in front of me, checking me over. Her voice managed to get through my muddled mind more than the boys' voices had. Probably had something to do with pitch; I wasn't sure. "She hit her head pretty hard, but she'll be fine. What were you two thinking?"

Jai's voice began to make more sense as he spoke. "Surprise attack," he said. "Get behind her while she's distracted."

I held a hand in the air with my index finger pointed. "What he said," I grumbled, nodding as I spoke.

Aang laughed a little; "She'll be fine," he said before standing and walking over to Iroh. Somehow, the older man and his group of young assistances had managed to get Azula under control. Probably required some sort of drugs; or a quick blow to the back of the head.

Katara seemed to agree with Aang. "Yeah, but we should all probably get out of this rain, or we'll all end up blabbering nonsense."

Jai helped me to my feet as I attempted to make a coherent statement. "I'm not…bumbling…nonsense."

I heard a laugh. "Sure you're not," Jai said, his sarcasm laid on especially thick, just for me. "Sure you're not."

We all moved inside, Toph kicking the earthen straight jacket (for lack of better term) that contained a now unconscious Azula. I dreaded the moment she woke up.

Hey all! Woo, this was a tough one to right. I was really worried about putting in enough action without overloading the system.

I'm going to have a hard time updating over the next few days – my older sis is having surgery – so don't freak out if it's several days before an update. I will be back, I promise.

Till then!

XXOO

BBTM